It always makes me cringe when I hear about friends getting fleeced buying spare/extra BlackBerry chargers from carrier stores. Carriers tend to charge you upwards of $20 for the convenience of picking up a charger in store. A bit back I mentioned that you could pick up a older MiniUSB charger on eBay for ~$3 but original MicroUSB chargers made by RIM were going for $6.50+.
I was in the market to pick up some spare MicroUSB chargers to have for travelling, office, and around my apartment so I did some digging. While the price of an original OEM BlackBerry charger is still about $6 with free shipping on Amazon you can pick up a international version of the charger for $2.95 with free shipping on eBay. You can find them at this link or this link from Mobile Liquidations (Large Seller with over 29,000 transactions).
I picked up 6 of them and they work as advertised. The cool part is that unlike the regular BlackBerry charger the International version comes with replaceable plugs so you can use it around the world. This makes it a little bit bulkier but it weighs the same.
Let me know if you find any better deals on BlackBerry chargers!
Corey Davis ( View Profile) Moderator - Posts: 1043
Posted: January 28, 2010 at 1:41 PM EST
I agree. Back before Christmas I found the Tour charging pod with usb cord for under $10. There are batteries for about $2 as well.
c0rinne ( View Profile) Enthusiast - Posts: 374
Posted: January 28, 2010 at 2:11 PM EST
I have at least 4 chargers just for my blackberry alone.
I have like 20 usb cords for my blackberry, itouch, nook, etc.
I also have a battery charger that I can plug in my usb cord to charge both my berry and my extra battery at the same time.
AND I have a powermat.
It’s crazy.
But the international one I had no idea about. I should probably get that too.
Crystal Not Registered
Posted: January 28, 2010 at 3:30 PM EST
$20 would be a relief… I’m in Canada and we pay $35 for a wall charger, $40 for a car charger, $35-39 for a case, $65 for a battery… the list goes on. I manage all the cellular stuff for my company and we have about four hundred cell phones and Blackberrys… I buy everything online now, and WITH SHIPPING it’s usually less than 20% of what I pay here in town.
Ghostshell Not Registered
Posted: January 28, 2010 at 3:37 PM EST
EBay is where i got my extra batteries for my Curve 8310, 9530, 9000 all for 6.00 or less per batt with free shipping.
Loony2nz Not Registered
Posted: January 28, 2010 at 3:37 PM EST
I’ve taken this a step futher. I upgraded from my Curve 8330 to a Storm 2 9550. Guess what? All those miniUSB cords and plugs dont work with the 9550 microUSB!!
So I went and bought the micro-mini USB converter from ebay. Bought a slew of them. They’re just little nibs you put on your miniUSB end and bingo..you have a micro!
This is great because it charges and syncs on the computer, not to mention I have the best of both worlds. Don’t need to buy new bulky chargers and I can charge both types on one plug (not simultaneously though).
Here’s what I’m talking about:
http://cgi.ebay.com/OEM-Mini-USB-to-Micro-Adapter-For-Motorola-Droid-PHONE_W0QQitemZ370324002528QQcmdZViewItemQQptZPDA_Accessories?hash=item563907d6e0
Hope these $6 pieces from heaven work for you
Corey Davis ( View Profile) Moderator - Posts: 1043
Posted: January 28, 2010 at 4:04 PM EST
I got some of these as well. They weren’t as short. They were long connectors. Course I think I bought mine out of Hong Kong. lol
oakie ( View Profile) Newcomer - Posts: 22
Posted: January 28, 2010 at 8:44 PM EST
call a local hotel and tell them u stayed there recently and accidentally left your charger behind. they’ll usually invite you over to see if u can find it in a box full of chargers others have left behind also.
total cost: free
if u live in a well traveled city, lots of people leave their cellphone chargers behind on accident and the hotel will have a huge box full of various chargers in case a customer calls back looking for theirs. usually the hotel will end up ebaying them after a year as they normally just go unclaimed, depending on state laws, of course. but they eventually just get tossed, one way or another.
i happen to live in las vegas, and the hotels on the strip are usually the first place i call if i’m in need of a cellphone or laptop charger.
DavidB ( View Profile) Guru - Posts: 1751
Posted: January 29, 2010 at 9:30 AM EST from my BlackBerry 9530
Interesting idea, IF the hotel doesn’t care to verify you actually DID stay there!
DavidB ( View Profile) Guru - Posts: 1751
Posted: January 29, 2010 at 9:36 AM EST from my BlackBerry 9530
My only beef with the international chargers is they aren’t “folding plug”.
I picked up a half dozen of the micro-mini adapters for $10 shipped and now every charger and USB cable I had is combo mini and micro!
I also picked up two OEM RIM D-X1 batteries and a standalone “folding plug” wall plug battery charger for $12 shipped.